Do I need to confess my sins to a priest? There is a sense in which it is proper for Christians to confess their sins to a priest, but only in an oblique sense. The Bible, namely Peter and John, refer to all Christians as priests. Did you know that we are priests? John calls us priests here: “And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth” (Rev. 5:10). Peter likewise calls us priests here: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9). So, you see, anytime we confess our faults to one another, as James 5:16 reminds us to do, we are confessing our sins to priests. Actually the New Testament knows nothing of a special class of people called priests; rather the New Testament speaks of elders and deacons and bishops. Even among those offices, there is no indication that confession was to be reserved for a special time or place or person. Rather, as humble men and women of God we are to confess our faults to one another. Moreover, confession should be something done as the saint recognizes his sin, usually between that saint and his God. When we confess our faults to one another, we usually should be confessing what we have already confessed before God. When someone is told about Christ, they respond first in faith. It is a dire mistake to try to get someone to repent for their sins before they believe in God. Someone who has not believed in God is very unlikely to see a need to repent. It is when they believe in God that they become aware of their need for repentance and confession. Thus belief will always lead to repentance and confession, but it is the belief which saves us. Abraham believed God, the scripture says, and it was counted unto him as righteousness. So, why then, you might ask, should the Christian confess his sins? The answer is found by looking at the writings of the apostle John. He tells us that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Here confession is not only expressing a state of repentance, but it is also “agreeing” with God that the sin is indeed sin. Notice the promise contained with the charge for us to confess. The promise is that he is faithful and just, or righteous, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There are no indulgences to be paid, there is no tearful sorrow that has to be expressed (though that may in fact happen), and there is no man that can give you forgiveness—it is given already in the cross, by the Christ himself. You may well be thinking, why do I know I am forgiven? We know that we are forgiven because God has already punished your sin when Christ was on the cross. But wait a minute, you say. I did not even do this sin when Christ was on the cross. Yes, I say to you, indeed, you had not sinned at all yet, because you were not born until 2,000 years later. All of the sins that you committed were covered by the wrath of God being poured out on His son when you believed. When we confess, Chafer has identified four elements that happen on that confession: “According to this Scripture, four vital elements enter into that divine forgiving and cleansing which constitutes the restoration of a sinning saint: (1) Confession is the one and only condition on the human side; (2) Absolute forgiveness and cleansing is promised on the divine side; (3) The Christian, while sinning, has been safe as to divine condemnation, because of his Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and (4) Divine forgiveness and cleansing is exercised toward the believer in unchallenged faithfulness and justice because Christ is "the propitiation for our sins."1 The scripture is most insistent on the point that every one of the world’s sins was covered, “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Think about it! When Christ declared it is finished, he really did mean that it is finished, the payment is made for the redemption of any of mankind who will believe God. I was trying to come to some sort of a very rough estimate of the number of saints who have believed since the cross, and I quickly can get to a couple of billion. There may be more or less, for God alone knows hearts, and I surely do not. In any case, there certainly are a lot of Christians, and every Christian’s sin is completely covered under the shadow of the cross. Without. Exception. And that is grace! Someone, I am not sure who, introduced one of the works of Luther, and had this to write, “Luther, on the other hand, had been accused -- like the Apostle Paul before him (Rom. 3 31) -- that the zealous performance of good works had abated, that the bonds of discipline had slackened and that, as a necessary consequence, lawlessness and shameless immorality were being promoted by his doctrine of justification by faith alone.”2 The priests were very upset at Luther because they felt he had taken away their very power of keeping people under their power, through confession, and indulgences, and penances and the like. He had dared to declare that every sin was forgiven on the cross, and that no man could forgive sins but God alone. In Luther’s words, “Good works are not the cause, but the fruit of righteousness.”3 It is a very common mistake when one is a new believer, that if you just try a little harder, then just maybe this time, you can get it right. Actually, that is not at all Biblical, and we only need Paul’s reminder that that which he would do, he cannot, and that which he would not do, he does. We are in a terrible dilemma when we depend on our own flesh to try to get things right, and it is usually something a new Christian learns quickly. Confession is our way out! By agreeing with God that whatever we were doing is sin, we have imputed righteousness. Imputed means that it is thrust upon us, given to us, not by our own actions, but the actions of God. The promise of I John 1:9, is that he will cleanse us from “all unrighteousness.” In teaching others about this verse, I always ask them how much unrighteousness does he clean us from, and if they need it, I prompt them with the words, all unrighteousness. Then I ask them, how righteous are you if God cleaned you from all unrighteousness? It slowly dawns on them with a beautiful smile as they finally realize the power of the verse. God has cleaned us from all unrighteousness, and made us totally righteous. How righteous, I ask them? They reply, totally righteous. It is when we get to that point that Luther’s accusers would step in and point out that we are totally free to sin, but when they do that they miss totally the awesome grace of God. When the saint realizes how much God has been willing to do, he should always be the eager servant, willing to follow the one who died to make him righteous. And by my observation, it is often the case. Good works become the fruit of righteousness. A final word. I would not leave you with the false impression that we do the works by ourselves; rather we submit to the Spirit of God who begins to work the works of God out in us. The most beautiful saint is the saint submitted wholly to his God, and it is those works that will endure the fires of the judgment seat of Christ, where we are told all of our works will be tested by fire. Read this famous verse, which ought to be further encouragement, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12, 13). It is not us at all, it is God at work in us, and that is his abundant grace. 1. Chafer, Lewis Sperry (2008-07-19). Grace (Kindle Locations 408-412). Taft Software, Inc.. Kindle Edition. 2. Luther, Martin (2009-02-14). Christian Classics: Works of Martin Luther, in a single file, improved 9/1/2010 (Kindle Locations 16512-16514). B&R Samizdat Express. Kindle Edition. 3. Luther, Martin (2009-02-14). Christian Classics: Works of Martin Luther, in a single file, improved 9/1/2010 (Kindle Locations 1907-1908). B&R Samizdat Express. Kindle Edition.
Posted on: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 03:36:47 +0000
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